


Loyal with no Heart

by Pikuna



Series: Dive into the Drabbles and AUs [6]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Guilt, Nobodies (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 07:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: What would have happened, when Axel had kept contact with his childhood friend Akira?Xemnas would have found out and as punishment for his disobedience, turning Akira into a Nobody.Axel would have to life with the knowledge that he was the reason that his friend doesn't exist anymore.The reminder would be the Assassin Nobody that followed him anywhere.





	Loyal with no Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little 'What if?' scenario to my drabble ["Just Forget"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15641481/chapters/38175344)  
> In my story-canon, Axel never revealed himself to Akira, but in this scenario he visits her now and then, with horrible consequences.

Hesitant.

Why was he hesitant?

Akira needed him.

Heart or not didn’t matter.

Taking in a deep breath, Axel grabbed the railing again and swung himself over it to jump down into the alley.

 

* * *

 

_A year later..._

Axel watched Akira training with two wooden swords in a little backyard from Traverse Town.

Did she ever do anything besides training? That girl really had ambitions.

Slow and quiet he walked towards her. She hadn’t noticed that he was there yet.

When he was just a few feet behind her, he summoned his Chakrams and with a battle cry he struck with them at her.

Just in time Akira noticed the attack and with a surprised yell, she was able to turn around and block the chakrams. Not that he had put much strength into the hit in the first place.

“Nice reflexes Aki,” he praised her.

“Lea!” she exclaimed happily and threw her weapons away to give him a crushing hug.

“Woha there! Be careful with your strength,” he laughed. After he made his chakrams disappear again, he returned the hug with one arm and stroking her head with the other.

He couldn’t help but to smile.

A true smile.

Not a forced one, like he had done it the first few times he went to see her.

Akira’s happiness to see him again must be infectious. He could feel it, too. Somehow.

“You have been gone so long again. Did you had a lot of work to do?” she asked and looked up at him.

“Yeah, Xemnas really keeps me busy. Shows me how to control my own Nobodies, sends me out for recon, all that jazz,” he explained, while they pulled away from the hug.

“So you got to see even more worlds?” Akira asked with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Uhh, just a few. And they were boring,” Axel said, scratching his head and looking everywhere but at the girl.

“I doubt that. It’s different worlds! That just can be exciting!” she said with a big grin and then looked expectant at him. “When will you take me away from here? You promised you would when I’m strong enough. I train every day, so I’m sure I won’t be a bother to you.”

Still not looking at her, Axel closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

Not because of her. Because of himself.

Why did he made that promise in the first place?

Because he hadn’t been able to stand her sad face when he first told her about him being able to visit other worlds, but not wanting to take her with him.

And he never would be able to.

The Organization...Xemnas could get wind of him meeting her, something the Nobodies weren’t allowed to do. He didn’t want to think what he would do to Akira, if he suddenly showed up at the castle with her in tow.

It was already bad enough that Saix once had followed him and saw where he always went.

They had fought, a lot, and Axel could consider himself lucky that his best friend kept shut about it, even when he had threatened to report it to Xemnas.

“Lea? You still with me?”

Lea.

Akira refused to call him anything else. She said she got the name well too memorized.

Well, what could he say against that?

“Was just thinking,” he sighed again and bring himself to look at her with a smile, this time a forced and he patted her head. “Look Aki, I would love to take you with me. But...it’s really too soon. Just a little bit longer.”

Disappointed she looked to the ground.

“And how long will that be?”

He gave no answer.

From the start he had tried to explain to her, that things were different now, that he was different and it would be dangerous for her to go with him. And while he was quite sure she understood most of what he had said, she decided to dig her heels in and make it even harder for them both.  

“It’s not fair,” she mumbled. When she looked back at him it was with an angry expression and wet eyes. “I don’t want to stay here alone. I want to go with you, go out to see other worlds like we always dreamed about.” The more she talked, the louder her voice got and by now she had started sobbing, covering her face with her hands. “If...if I’m annoying and you don’t want me with you, just say it!”

“Oh no, Aki please. That’s not the reason,” Axel said quickly and went on his knees, hugging her close to him to calm her down.

After what happened in Radiant Garden...it seemed to have broken Akira in some way. She never had cried so easily or would talk bad about herself like that. And it broke his non-existent heart to see her like that, especially when he was the cause.

“Then...then what’s the reason? Don’t...don’t you want me to come...come with you?” she asked after a few moments, when she had calmed down a bit.

“Please, if it were up to me I would take you with me in a sec,” he reassured her, leaning away to look her in the eyes and wiping her tears away with his thumb.

She sniffed and was able to form a little smile herself.

“Then why don’t you?”

“Because he knows he his bad company for you.”

Axel’s blood froze when he heard the voice.

The voice of Xemnas.

With wide eyes he turned around to see the leader of the Nobodies standing behind him, his expression as unreadable as ever.

“Who is that?”

Akira’s question got him out of his shock and he immediately straightened up to stand protective before her.

“Axel. You really disappoint me. I thought I had made myself clear that all Organization members are not allowed to interact with the locals. And you were not even ordered to go to this world in the first place.”

Xemnas’ even tone didn’t give away if he was angry at him or not, so Axel hoped that acting submissively would save the situation. So he bowed his head.

“Forgive me Lord Xemnas. I thought it could be an exception to talk with old friends and say hello.”

“Well, you said hello to your little friend quite often. I would say it goes so far that I can call her a... _distraction_.”

Panic-fueled Axel looked up again to see how Xemnas was eyeing Akira with disapproval. The girl was disturbed by this and hid herself more behind him.

“She really is not! I always do my missions before coming here. And it’s not that often in the first place!” he quickly tried to appease Xemnas.

And while the attention of the Nobody leader went from her to him, the disapproval in his face didn’t change.

“Even so, you were still disobeying my orders. And that...needs to be punished.”

With a snap of his fingers, a bunch of Sorcerer Nobody appeared out of nowhere and didn’t waste a second to attack Axel with their cubes.

More worrying about Akira’s safety, he jumped as far away as he could, so that she was out of range of the attacks. But this gave him barely time to summon his Chakrams and while he could block the first wave of cubes, the second one hit him in the back, putting him in a disadvantage.

The Sorcerer Nobodies shot their cubes relentlessly, more and more hit him hard and made it almost impossible to block all, not to mention getting his own chance for an attack.

Axel could hear Akira cry out for him, but right now he couldn’t do more than hoping that Xemnas was more occupied with his punishment than paying her any attention.

However, just a few moments later there was a pained scream from her. This time he couldn’t help but look in her direction and his eyes widened in shock.

Akira lay on the ground, holding her side while Xemnas stood before her with one of his Ethereal Blades trained on her.  

Everything in him screamed to get to her.

But being distracted like this he was immediately buried under a pile of the cubes, which pressed him down on the ground.

Gasping for air he tried to get out of this trap, but it was no use. All he could do was watching how Akira scrambled away from Xemnas, who just followed her with slow steps.

“Your little friend is not stupid. Attacking me to stop my Nobodies from attacking you,” Xemnas started to talk to Axel, but his eyes were still on Akira. “Very brave. But futile and reckless. Must be the young age,” he mused.

The girl was able to get back on her feet, but instead of running away, she stood her ground and glared at Xemnas.

“Why are you hurting him? Lea did nothing wrong!” she yelled at him, which made the Nobody halt in his steps.

“He disobeyed me. That is enough to grand him punishment,” he answered after a moment of silence, regarding her. “And he has a new name now. You should call him by that.”

“No!” she literally snarled at him. “His name is Lea and he will always be Lea, not matter what anyone says!”

“Aki…” Axel wheezed and tried again with all his remaining strength to get out of the pile of cubes. But the Sorcerer just increased the pressure and he could hear a few of his bones crack.

It was painful, but he bit his lip to make no sound. The last thing he wanted now was to make Akira worry about him. She was in much more trouble right now.

He collected all the breath he could muster to get her attention.

“Akira, you have to get out of here!”

Both Akira and Xemnas looked over at him.

“And leave you here alone? No way!”

Sometimes her stubbornness could be such nuisance.

“I’ll be fine. This has nothing to do with you, so go!”

“But-”

“Just go, dammit!” he barked at her, which made her wince.

She hesitated for a moment, visibly struggling with what to do, but finally she turned around to run towards the exit of the backyard.

“Not so fast.”

Akira hadn’t run far, when Xemnas snapped with his fingers and a bunch of Heartless blocked her escape route.

Why Heartless? Why not- … Oh no…

“You seem to have a strong will girl. I’m curious to see how strong.”

“Don’t-!” Axel wanted to scream, but again the cubes’ pressed all the air out of his lungs and he wasn’t able to say a word, only gasping.

The Heartless had circled Akira and came closer and closer to her. She still had one of the wooden swords in her hand and stood ready to defend herself. Albeit she was shaking a lot.

One of the Shadows jumped at her with no warning and she was just able to whack it with her sword, so that it hurled back into the group and took two other Shadows with it.

“You shouldn’t try to fight back. After all, don’t you want to be with Axel?”

At those words from Xemnas the girl looked at him, uncertainty in her face.

“Of course I do!”

“Then let those Heartless consume your heart. Become a Nobody and you can go everywhere he goes. You never have to be alone again.”

“Is that true?” Her voice was actually hopeful. She loosened her battle stance and waited for him to continue.

The corners of Xemnas mouth curled up into a little, but still unsettling smile.

“Only when you are strong enough.”

_Don’t listen to him!_

Axel could only groan in pain. His hand reached desperately into Akira’s direction, but she wasn’t looking.

_You don’t know what it means to be a Nobody!_

Akira looked unsure around her, at the Heartless that closed up to her. Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes tightly and let her weapon drop.

As if it was a signal, all the Heartless at once jumped at her, burying her under them.

They fought wildly about who would take the heart of this girl.

Xemnas chuckled at this display, while Axel watched this horrified.

He could hear a muffled scream.

There was a glow that shone through the pile of Heartless.

Her heart.

Out of nowhere a wave of darkness erupted from the heart.

It flung the Heartless into the air and destroyed them. The wave even threw all the cubes of Axel and made them hit the Sorcerers, who also vanished.

Coughing and gasping for air, Axel tried to get up right away. But his whole body hurt and trembled and he collapsed again.

“What was that?,” he heard Xemnas say.

The Nobody Leader had also been pushed away from the wave and was now looking at the source of it.

Following his line of sight, Axel spotted the motionless body of Akira lying on the ground.

_No...Please no!_

In his despair it took him a moment to notice that not only one, but two hearts were floating over Akira. One of them emitted a dark smoke that slowly took a humanoid form and held both hearts in each hand.

“Sorry, no Heartless from that girl,” it said, having a wide and loony grin on it’s blurred face.

“Who are you?” Xemnas demanded from that creature.

“No one you need to worry about,” it said with a shrug and tilted it’s head into an angle that looked very uncomfortable. “But I have to thank you. Tried to get those hearts for a while and the red hedgehog over there didn’t make it easy for me.”

It glared at Axel, before looking back at Xemnas with a very faked sweet smile.

“And as a little gift, I won’t take all of the girl. There still will be a Nobody for you to take home. That’s what you are after, right?”

With those words, Akira’s body got engulfed with the dark smoke and it went directly to the creature, making it appear more clear and taller. It looked like it was absorbing something from her and when it was finished, Akira had vanished.

In her place lay something white and red. A Nobody?

“Well, see ya in hell guys!” the creature said in a maniacal laughter and launched itself into the air, vanishing into the night sky.

That has been….very weird to put it mildly.

But Axel didn’t spent another thought on that creature.

What happened to Akira?

Was...was that Nobody over there really her?

“Very curious,” Xemnas mumbled, walking over to the Nobody on the ground.

Meanwhile Axel managed it to get back on his feet, albeit his body still trembled.

“Seems whatever this creature was, it has drained quite a lot of your friends strength and will. What a shame. I had hoped to find another Organization member in her.”

He was not really listening to his leader’s words, but was entirely focused on the Nobody that stood before him. Now he could see that it was an Assassin Nobody. But it hadn’t the usual purple parts, but was instead red in those areas.

Shaking Axel walked towards the new Nobody. It had stood there motionless, but as soon as he had come closer, it lifted it’s head and looked at him.

He stopped a few steps before it, looking disbelieving at it.

“Aki?” he asked hesitant. At first it didn’t react to his voice, but then it took the last few steps and stood in front of him, it’s blade on the head tapping his chest.

It was her.

His little friend really had become a Nobody.

Not a human-looking one like him. But just some Assassin Nobody.

Not be able to talk..to express herself...even less of a being than him.

He wanted to scream.

Why did that happen? Why to her?

“I think this will be enough punishment for now,” Xemnas voice suddenly cut through the deafening silence in Axel’s head.

His punishment…

Right.  
  
It has been his fault that this happened to her.

A thoughtful hum came from Xemnas. “She may not be the kind of Nobody I wanted, but…”

He shouldn’t have talked to her.

He should left her alone.

Then she wouldn’t be-

“Axel!”

At Xemnas barking voice, Axel stood quickly at attention. He couldn’t risk it to make him even more angry.

“You will take our new friend to Vexen. I want him to analyze it thoroughly. Maybe we get a clue of what that creature was.”

“I….yes,” Axel answered simply.

Satisfied Xemnas turned around to open a Dark Corridor and walked through it.

But Axel was not able to move.

He just looked down at the Nobody...at Akira. She had her head tilted up, her eyeless face staring at him.  

“Akira...,” he whispered and put his hand on her head. “I’m….so sorry.”

A tear ran down his cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> Ages  
> Axel: 17  
> Akira: 12


End file.
